Climate Change During the Last Deglaciation in Antarctica

Greenland ice core records provide clear evidence of rapid changes in climate in a variety of climate indicators. In this work, rapid climate change events in the Northern and Southern hemispheres are compared on the basis of an examination of changes in atmospheric circulation developed from two ice cores. High-resolution glaciochemical series, covering the period 10,000 to 16,000 years ago, from a central Greenland ice core and a new site in east Antarctica display similar variability. These findings suggest that rapid climate change events occur more frequently in Antarctica than previously demonstrated.     

Homoeologous Heterozygosity and Recombination in the Fern Pteridium aquilinum

The bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum, which can form completely homozygous zygotes in a single generation of self-fertilization, has a genetic system that allows the storage and release of genetic variability in spite of this homozygosity. Analysis of the distribution of electrophoretically demonstrable genetic markers demonstrates that this system is based on recombination between duplicated, unlinked loci.     

The Current State of Solar Modeling

Data from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) project and other helioseismic experiments provide a test for models of stellar interiors and for the thermodynamic and radiative properties, on which the models depend, of matter under the extreme conditions found in the sun. Current models are in agreement with the helioseismic inferences, which suggests, for example, that the disagreement between the predicted and observed fluxes of neutrinos from the sun is not caused by errors in the models. However, the GONG data reveal subtle errors in the models, such as an excess in sound speed just beneath the convection zone. These discrepancies indicate effects that have so far not been correctly accounted for; for example, it is plausible that the sound-speed differences reflect weak mixing in stellar interiors, of potential importance to the overall evolution of stars and ultimately to estimates of the age of the galaxy based on stellar evolution calculations.     

Rapid Variations in Atmospheric Methane Concentration During the Past 110,000 Years

A methane record from the GISP2 ice core reveals that millennial-scale variations in atmospheric methane concentration characterized much of the past 110,00 years. As previously observed in a shorter record from central Greenland, abrupt concentration shifts of about 50 to 300 parts per billion by volume were coeval with most of the interstadial warming events (better known as Dansgaard-Oeschger events) recorded in the GISP2 ice core throughout the last glacial period. The magnitude of the rapid concentration shifts varied on a longer time scale in a manner consistent with variations in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation, which suggests that insolation may have modulated the effects of interstadial climate change on the terrestrial biosphere.     

Follicle Wave Growth in Cattle

Ovarian follicle growth in cattle culminates in the selection of a single dominant follicle which attains the ability for final maturation and ovulation once or twice during the luteal phase and at the end of the oestrous cycle, as well as during other reproductive states. This review will describe in detail the first follicle wave of the cycle leading to selection of the first wave dominant follicle, indicating the specific gonadotrophin dependencies of cohort and dominant follicles, and relating follicle fate to steroidogenesis. As a differential gonadotrophin response of growing antral follicles during the follies‐stimulating hormone (FSH) decline may determine which follicle becomes selected, first wave follicles are also characterized in relation to intrafollicular growth factors, which may modify the gonadotrophin response, such as inhibins and members of the insulin‐like growth factor (IGF) family. Subsequently, the follicular control of the transient FSH rise and decline so crucial to dominant follicle selection will be discussed. It is concluded that successful hormonal manipulation of follicle wave growth and dominant follicle selection will depend on our detailed understanding of the gonadotrophin requirements of differentiating wave follicles.     

Low levels of antibacterial drug resistance expressed by Gram-negative bacteria isolated from poultry carcasses in New Zealand

Abstract

AIM: To provide baseline data on the levels and patterns of antibacterial drug resistance expressed by Gram-negative bacteria isolated from poultry carcasses in New Zealand.

METHODS: Between July and December 2006, isolates of Escherichia coli (n=407) and Salmonella spp. (n=3) originating from carcass-rinse samples were submitted by testing laboratories affiliated to five major poultry processing plants. Isolates of Campylobacter jejuni (n=193) originating from retail poultry carcasses in 2005–2006 were retrieved from the Massey University archives. All isolates underwent disc diffusion susceptibility testing against panels of 12 (Enterobacteriaceae) and six (Campylobacter spp.) antibacterial drugs. Cephalothin-resistance in isolates of E. coli was confirmed using ETest strips, and confirmation of the resistance phenotypes for a subset of C. jejuni isolates used microbroth dilution assays. Patterns within the resistance phenotypes of the isolates were investigated using hierarchical clustering, and logistic regression modelling.

RESULTS: The majority of isolates (71.5% E. coli, 99% C. jejuni, and all three Salmonella spp. isolates) were fully susceptible to the drugs that were tested. Four (1%) E. coli isolates showed resistance to three or more drugs. The proportions of susceptible E. coli differed between the five processing plants. Resistances were detected in E. coli isolates, using disc diffusion to cephalothin (18.2%), ampicillin (4.4%), tetracycline (4.4%) and gentamicin (1.5%). There was an association between cephalothin-resistant isolates of E. coli and decreased susceptibility to gentamicin. Using ETests to ascertain the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of E. coli for cephalothin gave inconsistent results. One of 193 C. jejuni isolates was resistant to erythromycin, and microbroth dilution assays confirmed that this panel of C. jejuni was generally susceptible to antibacterial drugs.

CONCLUSIONS: The levels of resistance shown by Gram-negative bacteria isolated from chicken carcasses in New Zealand are among the lowest reported around the world. No resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporin drugs was detected in E. coli, suggesting that CTX-M and AmpC beta-lactamases are rare or absent. Salmonella spp. are rarely isolated from poultry carcasses during routine testing in New Zealand, and the isolates identified during this study were fully susceptible to the drugs tested. A panel of C. jejuni isolates originating from retail poultry carcasses were susceptible to first-line and second-line antibacterial drugs. The use of cephalothin as a marker of resistance to first-generation cephalosporins may not be appropriate for non-type-specific E. coli of animal origin.     

Circadian polymorphisms associated with affective disorders

Background  

Clinical symptoms of affective disorders, their response to light treatment, and sensitivity to other circadian interventions indicate that the circadian system has a role in mood disorders. Possibly the mechanisms involve circadian seasonal and photoperiodic mechanisms. Since genetic susceptibilities contribute a strong component to affective disorders, we explored whether circadian gene polymorphisms were associated with affective disorders in four complementary studies.     

Sum rules and interlayer conductivity of high-Tc cuprates

Analysis of the interlayer infrared conductivity of cuprate high-transition temperature superconductors reveals an anomalously large energy scale extending up to midinfrared frequencies that can be attributed to formation of the superconducting condensate. This unusual effect is observed in a va- riety of materials, including Tl2Ba2CuO6+x, La2-xSrxCuO4, and YBa2Cu3O6.6, which show an incoherent interlayer response in the normal state. Midinfrared range condensation was examined in the context of sum rules that can be formulated for the complex conductivity. One possible interpretation of these experiments is in terms of a kinetic energy change associated with the superconducting transition.     

Hydrogen radicals, nitrogen radicals, and the production of O3 in the upper troposphere

The concentrations of the hydrogen radicals OH and HO2 in the middle and upper troposphere were measured simultaneously with those of NO, O3, CO, H2O, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons, and with the ultraviolet and visible radiation field. The data allow a direct examination of the processes that produce O3 in this region of the atmosphere. Comparison of the measured concentrations of OH and HO2 with calculations based on their production from water vapor, ozone, and methane demonstrate that these sources are insufficient to explain the observed radical concentrations in the upper troposphere. The photolysis of carbonyl and peroxide compounds transported to this region from the lower troposphere may provide the source of HOx required to sustain the measured abundances of these radical species. The mechanism by which NO affects the production of O3 is also illustrated by the measurements. In the upper tropospheric air masses sampled, the production rate for ozone (determined from the measured concentrations of HO2 and NO) is calculated to be about 1 part per billion by volume each day. This production rate is faster than previously thought and implies that anthropogenic activities that add NO to the upper troposphere, such as biomass burning and aviation, will lead to production of more O3 than expected.